The following files created on May 14, 2003, which are included in a computer program listing appendix submitted on a compact disc pursuant to 37 C.F.R. xc2xa71.52, are hereby incorporated by reference herein. The machine format is IBM-PC and the operating system is MS-Windows.
There are numerous situations in which data is generated and collected in a two dimensional format. An example of data generated in a two dimensional format occurs in biology, where assays of many different types are performed using microplates and chip-based arrays (microplates and chip-based arrays are referred to as plates herein). One such example is high throughput screening. Increasingly, high throughput screening of multi-well plates, also known as microplates, or similarly prepared sequences of small chambers that constitute reaction chambers is the method of choice for a wide variety of biological assays. In this high throughput screening (HTS) method, hundreds and thousands of combinations of potential actives, samples, probes and agents are combined, and subjected to the same reaction conditions. The plates used in such screening methods may have in excess of 400 wells per plate. Frequently, each well is inspected to determine the presence and strength of a particular signal, such as a chemiluminescent, colorometric, agglutination or other visibly detectable signal. The types of assays employing HTS technology are not particularly limited, but include reporter gene assays, immunoassays, fingerprint assays, etc.
In many embodiments, HTS technology involves preparing the mixture of sample and reagent in each of the wells of a series of microplates, under the same conditions, by robotic means, in a controlled and sealed environment. In this way, each of the wells faces the same conditions, except for the variable selected. The well plates or other reagent holders move forward in xe2x80x9cassembly linexe2x80x9d fashion, until the reaction is complete, and it is time to detect the absence, presence and/or strength of the signal. In a qualitative assay, either the presence or absence of the visually detectable signal can be positive. In a quantative assay, measuring the strength of the signal becomes paramount. In order to inspect, for example, the influence of a wide variety of genetic modifications to a specific gene on the expression of that gene, it may be necessary to have many thousands of plates read under the same conditions.
Thus, HTS technology places certain demands on the ability to rapidly inspect, understand and correlate visually detectable data. Ideally, real time measures, or measures as close to real time as possible, are sought so that anomalies and events detected can be investigated. Given the large quantities of information and types of signals to be detected, and the importance of comparing and contrasting each event inspected, computer technology is preferably employed. Nonetheless, employing computer technology, the human operator is confronted with the difficulty of treating the vast amounts of information provided on a reasonable scale.
What is needed is a method and system for displaying data in an easily understood form that allows a user to rapidly review and assess the data.
The present invention meets the aforementioned need to a great extent by providing a method and apparatus for displaying data in a form that allows a user to rapidly review the data and identify assays of interest for further inspection or other action and visualize overall trends in the data. The invention accomplishes this through the presentation of results from a single assay across multiple wells and plates on a single screen in a format that preserves the spatial relationship between the wells on a plate and the sequential relationship between plates. This is done because it has been found that it is easier for a user to make the same decision about multiple items of the same type than it is to make multiple decisions of different types for the same item. The invention also provides the user with the ability to display these results from multiple wells in a color coded format corresponding to a binary (e.g. good/bad) or quadripartite (e.g. good/marginally good/marginally bad/bad) division. The invention also displays plate-wide statistics, such as signal-to-noise ratio and variability, for multiple plates on a single screen so that problem plates can be readily identified. The ability for a user to view a summary of performance on a well-by-well basis across all compounds/plates is also provided to aid the user in detecting general trends, including the possible existence of mechanical errors. Finally, the invention provides the user with the ability to select or deselect plates and assays for review in the above formats.